NEW DELHI, 20 September 2021, (TON): The White House revealed “US President Joe Biden will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the margins of the Quad meeting in Washington on Friday. Biden will also meet separately with Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Sug.”

The two bilaterals are expected provide clarity, among other things, on the new AUKUS alliance involving Australia, UK, and US, aimed ostensibly at countering China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison is the fourth leader in the first ever in-person Quad meeting that will take place later the same day.

While AUKUS is largely a military alliance involving transfer of top-tier military technology including nuclear propulsion systems, the Quad, which is also aimed at countering China, has a largely economic orientation given Japan's non-nuclear, non-militaristic commitments and Washington's residual unease with New Delhi's defense tie-ups with Russia and France.

India has often perceived the US as an unreliable and sometimes reluctant military partner whose technology transfer is constrained by legislative hurdles.